2018 Clarks Creek Elodea Removal

2018 Elodea Management - DASH

The regular season elodea management window for 2018 is June 1 - August 3, 2018. The contractor was awarded to Aqua Dive Services, LLC at the May 22nd Council meeting and in-water work began on June 5th.

Permitting Windows

The 2018 elodea management work will include work under the expiring permit as well a new permit from Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW). The current Hydraulic Project Approval (HPA) permit expires in June 2018, prior to completion of the necessary in-water work window. The remaining work window will be completed under a newly-issued HPA from WDFW.

The permitting process with WDFW for the in-water work to remove overgrown elodea and invasive weeds includes submittal of a Joint Aquatic Resources Permit Application (JARPA). The proposed work will be reviewed, and a 5-year HPA permit issued by WDFW when approved. The JARPA will detail the Diver-Assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH) process and propose the in-water area of work. The total project area is approximately 3 miles long, beginning just south of the 12th Ave SW bridge in Puyallup and ending at the 56th Ave E bridge in Pierce County. According to WDFW recommendation shoreline locations where access may be needed for WDFW monitoring of the permit work will be listed in the Property Owner section of the JARPA.

Management of excessive elodea in Clark's Creek has been ongoing for more than 20 years in Puyallup. In 2012 a task force comprised of staff, Council, citizens, regulatory agencies, and other organizations worked together to develop agreeable solutions to the problem. The goal was to find sustainable solutions that would reduce the overall presence of elodea and sediment in Clark's Creek, improving the health of the creek.

Diver-assisted Suction Harvesting (DASH) was identified by the 2012 Elodea Task Force as the main method for elodea removal starting in 2013 onward. In this process, divers enter the water from pontoon-type boats, using surface-supplied air. The divers hand-pull the elodea from the stream, and feed it into a suction hose. The plant material is suctioned to the surface of the water, into mesh bags located on the boat. When several bags are full, they are each transported to the shore, and removed from the project site. This process reduces the fragmentation of the elodea, and completely removes the plant from the stream so it cannot re-plant itself, or grow back. The process is modeled after similar successful DASH projects in Thurston County, Washington and New York.